Wikipedia:WikiProject Judaism/Manual Of Style
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The manual of style for the Judaism WikiProject.
Contents |
[edit] NPOV policy
- Wikipedia's NPOV policy often means multiple points of view. This means providing not only the points of view of different groups today, but different groups in the past.
- Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. One important task for articles is to explain things. In the case of human beliefs and practices, explanation encompasses not only what motivates individuals who hold these beliefs and practices, but an account of how such beliefs and practices came to be and took shape.
- Wikipedia articles on history and religion draw from a religion's sacred texts, in this case including the Torah, Tanakh, Mishnah, Tosefta, the two Talmuds, midrashic literature and the responsa literature. But Wikipedia articles on history and religion also draw from modern archaeological, historical and scientific sources.
- Adherents of a religion may object to a critical historical treatment of their own faith. They would prefer that the articles describe their faith according to their tradition and understanding, which often differs substantially from the view commonly held by critical historians. Non adherents of a religion may feel the exact opposite, and prefer that the views of critical historians be given primacy; many articles on Wikipedia currently reflect the latter point of view. NPOV policy demands both points of view be presented without prejudice.
Thus sentences currently saying something like "adherents of this faith believe X, but this has been disproved by historians" should instead say something like "adherents of this faith believe X; most critical historians believe Y". As well, back and forth debate in every sentence of a paragraph is tiresome; it is stylistically preferred to present the two points of view in separate sections, or at least separate paragraphs, each one advancing the opposing thesis.
- A note on using the term "fundamentalism": Please see the article on fundamentalism for the technical definition of this term; its technical definition differs considerably from the common understanding, and is often seen as pejorative. The mere use of the term is often enough to attract strife and create edit-wars. Thus, its use should be avoided whenever possible, as its meaning often can just as clearly be stated in some other way.
- Articles should present rational and mystical perspectives and distinguish between them.
- Disputes should be taken to the talk page as soon as possible; questions that span several different articles can be discussed on this WikiProject's talk page.
- Issues relating to Category:Biblical criticism. Often pages on the Torah will discuss the documentary hypothesis (DH). Our articles need to correctly show the classical Jewish views on the authorship of the Torah, which reject this view. At the same time, many modern denominations of Judaism do accept some form of the DH as correct, and even as useful, and this point of view needs to be stated as well, in accord with NPOV.
[edit] Presenting several points of view
Some of our articles may pick only one classical rabbinic POV, and present it as the only classical rabbinic POV. This happened in the articles on the 613 mitzvot and Korban. When discussing the views of the classical rabbis strive to also present the full array of views within classical rabbinic literature.
- As you will be aware, some views just don't make it to mainstream Jewish thought. You will be hard pressed to find an Orthodox Jew who doubts that there are 613 mitzvoth in the Torah. The debate is interesting, but please do not make it out as if the matter is completely undecided. There is no such thing as a psak (binding law) in non-halakhic matters; still, when a view is widely favoured it can be presented in Wikipedia as the generally accepted view, with dissenters as a historical curiosity.
[edit] Common differences between Jewish and Christian perspectives
Many articles on Jewish topics exist side-by-side with articles on Christian views on the same topics. Here are some issues to consider, in responding to and standardizing articles relating to Torah, Tanakh and "Scripture" etc:
- Many articles on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) are drawn from the Christian dominated Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 and from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (there are even templates for them, as there is for the 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia). There is a need for good Jewish sources as alternatives to "Eastons" and the 1911 Britannica alone.
- Usage of words such as "Old Testament" and "New Testament" in articles. Need to standardize introductions and usages of Torah and Tanakh / Hebrew Bible etc and to explain why and how Judaism views and uses these terms (differently).
- Within articles there is a need to create standardized method for presenting a Jewish view separately from the Christian views. At the moment many paragraphs and sentences in Tanakh articles often jump from "New Testament" views to "Old Testament" views. Articles need to be clear about each religion's view and not become a hodge-podge shoddy attempt at ersatz ecumenism that represents nothing in reality.
- Usages of words relating to the Tetragrammaton and the names of and for God. Much work has already been done via "redirects" when words like "Jeho-va" or "Yah=we" etc are used, but this subject needs further attention and standardization.
- Responding to those who would classify Judaism and its texts as Mythology, as some do with Christianity.
- Many articles refer to Jesus Christ; the word "Christ" is a formal title, used by those people who believe that Jesus is the son of God and the messiah. This usage violates wikipedia policy, and it never hurts to remind editors to refer to him as "Jesus of Nazareth" or simply "Jesus."
- Standardize a method of citation for books, chapters, and verses. Also, some Christians include different Jewish books in their canon such as the Book of Baruch and the way they classify and use Category:Old Testament Apocrypha in general runs counter to Jewish scholarship. Need to respond in a standardized manner.
- Sometimes articles related to the Tanakh, or "Old Testament", are written from a distinctly Christian perspective. It's a worthy goal to ensure that Jewish perspectives are taken into account.
[edit] Article introduction
The following is a sample article introduction:
Sukkot (Succos) is one of the most important Jewish holidays in Judaism. During this holiday, Jews traditionally enjoy their meals in a Sukkah, and shake a Lulav and Etrog during morning prayers.
The word being defined should be the first word in the article and should be bold. If it is a Hebrew word, it should also be italicized. The first sentence should be a summary of the word and should contain a link to Judaism. Article titles may be in either Israeli transliteration or Ashkenazi transliteration. Whichever transliteration was used to start the article remains the title of the article, and the other transliteration should be redirected to the article.
[edit] Including Jewish and Hebrew words or terms
The following is a sample sentence which includes Jewish terms:
- During the holiday of tabernacles (Succos, Succot, in hebrew: סוכות) Jews are commanded (have a mitzvah, in Hebrew: מצוה) to shake a palm branch (lulav, in Hebrew: לולב) and lemon like citrus fruit (Esrog, Etrog, in Hebrew: אתרוג) ("eθroɣ").
Whenever a Jewish term is first used in an article, it should be rendered in English followed by a parenthesis containing two transliterations of the Hebrew word: One in an Israeli Sefardi transliteration and one in the Artscroll transliteration. The order of the transliterations is left to the writer. Subsequently, either transliteration may be used in the article. The first two transliterations should be links. All transliterations should be italicized.
[edit] Hebrew usage
For important guidelines see:
and the discussions at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Hebrew).
[edit] Gregorian-Calendar Dates
Gregorian calendar Dates on Jewish topics should generally refer to BCE and CE for years.
See also:
